Dark Rising
by CataclysmicReality
Summary: Series Continuation. A new enemy has appeared in the remnants of Tokyo. With its new threats, and the growing tensions of a shaken society, what will await the Mews next? And what harm lies in truths left unsaid, and knowledge never told?
1. The New Enemy?

TMM 2: Dark Rising

_The damage… is significant. _

_This place… is not… _

…_the Tokyo it used to be. _

_The presence of the ancients, their chimera anima servants, the mystic Mew Aqua, and most important… Tokyo Mew Mew._

_The truth behind DNA and its power, is this it? Or is the truth to the answer still something that lay buried, and is yet to discover…?_

_Whatever the case… this cannot be forgiven easily. _

_Your existence and your cause… as well as the faults of the interaction of the above…_

_Either way, you will submit to me willingly, or bow…_

… _As my slaves._

* * *

Chapter 1: **The New Enemy?**

"Mew Mew Mint…"

"Mew Mew Lettuce…"

"Mew Mew Pudding…"

"Mew Mew Zakuro…"

"Mew Mew Strawberry…"

"METAMORPHO-SIS!"

The five girls smiled and wore exhilarated expressions on their faces as they ran as one, despite only having given up on the idea of a return to normalcy those fleeting minutes ago. Like it or not, it was to the good of the planet and its people that they did what they did, and there was happiness in being together… and at least for now, the worries of real life separation were behind them.

For the moment, even with what and where they were going, and for the reason behind it, nothing mattered. Just so long as they were together, any obstacle could be overwhelmed by the strength of their hearts. The power of being.

Right with them, as though he had never left, Masha, their small fluffy robot companion flew on. It was thanks to his detection abilities that they could discern their query, and his ability to store the parasites that neutralize the potential for additional threat. To go on without him was unthinkable in the least.

And thankfully, to his incredible resilience, they didn't have to!

"_Mew Ichigo?_"

"Eh?" came Ichigo's initial response to the sudden voice that came from within the mew-trigger at her neck. "Shirogane?" she asked as she put her hand to it gently.

"What is it?" asked Zakuro as she ran beside Ichigo.

"_The enemy signal seems to be concentrated in one location, though whether alien or chimera anima is uncertain. I'll leave it to R-2000's upgraded sensors to discern it._"

"Ok," started Ichigo with a feeling of exasperation, if it was only something that simple, why even bother-? "Wait, what do you mean that 'it seems to be'?"

"_That's just the thing. It's a strange signal in comparison to what we've registered before. Existing data doesn't back it up._"

"Whatever it is," voiced Zakuro without emotion, "we'll take care of it when we reach it."

"_More or less, I'll have to leave it to you. Good luck._"

"Sure." Replied Ichigo. Seriously though…. Considering that last fiasco, what couldn't they handle? Especially together.

She bit her lip as she and the rest of the group slowed as they entered the greater forest of what used to be Tokyo. Even with the amount of time afterwards, it still remains mostly wild. An effect of the restoration influence of the Mew Aqua? She shook her head despite herself. No, it was weird.

Considering the properties of Mew Aqua, it wasn't possible that saturation of the area could do this. Mew Aqua just didn't last that long… and it certainly didn't contribute to mass regeneration that came after the recovery attempt, where any attempt to cut a tree or plant within the area of influence resulted in rapid re-growth and compensation. Cut one branch, five took its place. Snap one vine, well, more would grow in its place.

It was too strange.

As such, people mostly stayed away from the epicenter of the forest, which for an added factor of eeriness, seemed much more alive than solely the trees… though that in itself could simply be an exaggeration of fear. However, others, such as her father and his coworkers, ran late everyday in the attempt to break through each morning. Not that it was that much of a struggle, since there were pathways still wide enough for select traffic flow… but all in all, a much slower progression. Something for which Tokyo Mew Mew received blame… though most knew the alternative, considering what was hovering above the city that day.

That kind of thing… it was simply not something that could be missed.

Still…

Oh well, some things were just never simple. However, that didn't mean they had to reunite in this fashion. Just when her life had finally started to return to normal…

She sighed.

"What's wrong, Ichigo-onee-chan?" Mew Pudding asked from above her as she clambered forward while upside-down on the vines.

Ichigo snapped from her reverie with a start. She hadn't realized she had sunk that deep into thought.

"Ah," she began somewhat distractedly. "It's nothing."

"Hmmmm?" pondered Mew Pudding aloud. "As long as everything's okay!"

"It might be…" said Mew Ichigo in a small and distant voice.

Even she herself was weird. The effect of the forest… or the foreboding in the unknown? Perhaps neither, perhaps both. Why she was even thinking about it seemed out of character… though, as she looked around at the others, what had happened to their carefree demeanors? It seemed as though the entirety of the forest around them pushed them into thought alone.

Everybody was serious again.

It was strange.

That aside, and all other thoughts forgotten; Ichigo and the others passed over a particularly unnoticeable threshold of foliage that concealed the transition of soil constitution to a somewhat darker color… as they ventured deeper into the forest's interior.

* * *

_Toyko Mew Mew… eh?_

_I see… they're quick to the chase. _

_No matter, confrontation is inevitable… but not necessarily determined for today._

_I suppose this could be useful as well._

At that, a computer terminal in an unknown location kicked to life, and held itself awaiting data prompt. Beside the monitor was a holo-field that showed a visual display of the five girls from ground level as they entered into a low ground fog.

As they did, the screen began to initiate DNA sequencing just as Ryou's computer had of Ichigo, almost a year ago.

While on a different screen completely; were their respective locations compared to a greater map of the entire region, framed by a hexagonal configuration of six plots of land, three of which remain grayed out in the form of an inverse triangle.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the forest, Mew Ichigo and the others continued along cautiously at best, since from their last experience with the forest interior yielded exposure to the giant insect inhabitants that now dwelled here. 

So long as they didn't cross paths, all the better for both sides, especially considering their true objectives herein.

Although, considering their luck thus far, crossing paths with anything would be a miracle in itself… for the entire forest seemed to echo that of the unknown… of a cold nothingness. A cold presence so potent that it caused them to wordlessly tighten their formation. It was certainly unnatural… and just that alone was creepy.

"I see the cause of Shirogane's uncertainty in regards to the forest," stated Mew Zakuro wearily as she looked uneasily at the thick canopy above. "It seems to radiate a collective aura, rather than just having a single source."

"Onee-sama…" Mew Mint said as she moved closer to the others, as though the words of her role model suddenly intensified the subtle feelings of the forest around them.

She was not alone, as Mew Lettuce and even the carefree Mew Pudding also moved in to form a delta pattern with Mew Mint, leaving both Mew Zakuro and Mew Ichigo to head their front as they ventured further into the unknown. With no new information, all they could do was go on, to observe, to connect the pieces that were spread so far.

"It seems… kind of empty." Mused Mew Lettuce as she looked around. "It's almost as though the creatures have," she stopped at a tree and placed her hand to it, as though to sense anything at all, "simply vanished." She turned to the others. "Isn't that weird?

"It is indeed strange," agreed Mew Zakuro as she and the others broke the unplanned formation to gather around idly. With care, she knelt to the forest floor - which used to be a main stretch of City Street just those few weeks ago - and picked up what used to be the seedling of the larger trees above, withered and dead on its side. She gently rolled it in-between her fingers and the part that wasn't rubbery in feel crumbled apart.

_Cold?_ She thought. _Or is it heat?_

Her ears twitched.

There wasn't even the sound of life.

"Empty… quiet. There aren't any birds here?" wondered Mew Mint as she stayed close to her 'sister'.

"No," stated Mew Zakuro as she stood. "There isn't anything. No sounds… and the remnants of the broken buildings within this region are far less than they should be." Her gaze fell over what should be the remains of a three story building, but was no more than a few slabs and sand among the tree roots. "The plants are strange as well… having sustained visual damage from high degree of freeze and/or fire."

"That…" chimed in Mew Ichigo as she tucked some hair back, away from her eyes. "and this persistent chill…though not as much from the air as from the ground… it's not natural."

"Purin doesn't like it…" chimed in Mew Pudding as she hugged her arms to her chest. "…cold and creepy… and the ground is muddy in places too."

"Even though we haven't had any rain of late?" wondered Mew Lettuce.

"Hmmm…" Mew Ichigo mulled over some thought before looking above them. "Masha?"

"Here, Ichigo!" cried the energetic robot as he fluttered down from above.

"Is there anything yet? At all?"

"Negative! Nothing yet!" said Masha as he volleyed around their heads. He seemed to be the only one not affected by the strangeness felt collectively by the others.

"Well, please let us know when you detect something… anything will be fine."

"Ok, Ichigo!" Spouted Masha jubilantly as he fluttered back into the forest canopy and thus out of sight.

Ichigo watched him go and sighed. If he didn't find anything, they certainly weren't getting anywhere.

"It's like that then, isn't it?" asked Mew Mint as she voiced Ichigo's unspoken thought.

"Something like that," replied Mew Zakuro as she sundered up beside them. "At least without further information, otherwise we may overlook the truth when it actually appears."

"So that's it then?" supplied Mew Pudding, looking around while doing a handstand with her head in the low mist that hovered just above the ground. "Nothing here but icky-sticky, clammy-cold-ness in an empty forest place?"

"I guess we could put it that way," stated Mew Lettuce as she watched Mew Pudding goof around… who was apparently over her sudden seriousness of simple moments ago. Of course, having come upon much of nothing didn't hurt their feeling too terribly. It beat finding something unwanted. Though she herself wasn't sure about this at all.

"Ichigo?"

Mew Ichigo was gazing past the rest of the group into the forest beyond as though lost in her thoughts, though her head was quite empty, with her ears held in a downcast-sideways manner. Despite not being too fond of the deep forest, she couldn't help but feel disappointed in the result of it all. Life had only become exciting for those few moments prior to entering this place.

She smiled despite herself, and looked down at her gloved hand, which she held in a loosely-balled fist.

_Hot-bloodedness… eh?_ Perhaps Minto was right about her after all.

With a small chuckle, she uncurled her fingers and placed them upon the pendant (mew-trigger) at her neck with a soft touch.

"Shirogane… are you there?"

Silence.

She looked at the others briefly and then tried again.

"Shirogane?"

"_Yes, I'm here. What's your status?_"

"We haven't found much of anything, well, a lot of nothing I should say. That and Masha has yet to detect anything also."

"_Are you sure?_" Came Ryou's doubting voice. "_The readings indicate that there's still something phenomenally large in that area._"

"Yeah… maybe over the entire area, but…" she looked to the others and Mew Zakuro nodded. "Certainly nothing isolated. Rather… it's too creepy in here. That and nothing is alive besides the trees. Anyways… we-"

Suddenly her and Mew Zakuro's ears perked up at a noise in the distance.

"_What is it?_" Came Ryou's worried voice.

"Something? Perhaps nothing, but something's moving!" Ichigo responded as she rounded upon the distant noise, her ears fully standing. "Rather – I'll call you back!"

With that, she tucked into a run and both she and Zakuro, as the only ones to hear it, sprinted forward into the rising fog of the small clearing just beyond the tree row in which they had been standing.

Quickly, as the predatory instincts of their red data animal DNA kicked in, they moved to the outside perimeter of the small clearing just as to better judge their query's positioning, which continued to emit a scratching noise from somewhere within the middle, though likely hidden beneath both fog and forest floor. Hence, it was all the more important to correctly station themselves as to block potential escape and maneuver. Though going on sound alone was difficult, especially with the footsteps of their fellow teammates falling louder in progression as they hurried forward, until they got to the edge and stopped.

"Onee-sama… what-?"

"Ichigo…?"

"Ichigo-onee-chan?"

"There's no time to explain it, but in the middle…!" Ichigo exclaimed as she indicated towards the location between her and Mew Zakuro. "But we need to clear this fog first! Mew Mint!"

"What?" asked Mew Mint looking perplexed. How was she supposed to-?

"Your attack," added Zakuro, fully aware of Ichigo's line of thought. "Shoot upwards."

"Ah."

She understood.

With that, she pulled her weapon forth as she spun into position, pulling the loaded arrow back to the readying position.

"RIBBON…"

Energy built around the tip just as she reared the bow back.

"MINT ECHO!"

Released with fury, the energy enhanced arrow streaked upwards just above the fog at a forty-five degree angle, creating a well initiated vacuum as the air followed the arrow's wake, effectively drawing the fog with it.

Now clear, the mysterious source fell silent at the sudden pull of the wind, while still unseen and hidden beneath a slab of concrete that was all that remained of what used to be a building. However, just for silence, there was no way they were letting this go.

"Mew Pudding, get ready!"

Mew Pudding pulled her 'Pudding Ring" from the air and hunched down in an attack stance, as Mew Zakuro broke from her position and drew her cross, her sights set on the edge of the slab.

"Ribbon…. Zakuro Spear!"

Mew Ichigo watched the onset of events and yelled out, just before the attack connected; "Now! Mew Pudding!"

"Right!" she yelled in response just as the tip of Mew Zakuro's attack connected. "Ribbon Pudding Ring-"

The attack forced the slab back and fluidly uncovered a shallow depression in the ground underneath, as well as the movement of its occupant.

"Infer- AH!" cried Mew Pudding as she broke off the attack as a black blur jut out of the depression, to which she responded to in kind… by leaping after it faster than the others could react to the change. An action that ended in a mutual collision in which kicked up a large cloud of dirt and debris as Mew Pudding fully tackled the unknown.

"Pudding!" called out Mew Lettuce toward the dust cloud with a tinge of concern for her younger teammate. "Are you okay?"

There was a moment's tension as there was an obvious struggle within the dust for a few moments, before everything got quiet.

"Purin?"

"Hehe! I got it!" Mew Pudding responded immediately, laughing gleefully despite having her arms wrapped around something black and large, with several legs jutting out in-between.

"Ack! What is that?" asked Mew Mint as she stepped back from whatever was trapped in Mew Pudding's clutches.

"This?" smiled Mew Pudding widely… even more so when Mew Zakuro's fur stood on end. "It's just a little cricket!"

"Th-That's little?" awed Mew Ichigo as she came forward. Her instincts felt shattered… to have gotten so worked up for just this… even if it was the size of a small dog. She thought that perhaps her time off had dulled her senses somewhat.

"What, it's not?" questioned Mew Pudding as she kept the enlarged cricket from moving. "Well… compared to that cockroach from before, it is a lot smaller."

"She has a point there." Observed Mew Lettuce as she arrived next to Mew Ichigo. "In retrospect… this is much smaller. But I'm afraid that this alone really doesn't do much to help us."

"Certainly," added Mew Zakuro, now fully collected. "It doesn't help explain anything other than what we know from before, save that the effect of the Mew Aqua in this region favors the plants over the insects and other life… if that's a conclusion we even have to right to."

She turned away and looked out into the forest with a serious expression.

"It certainly seems that something is amiss… but until we have more information…" Her gaze fell upon the others and her look softened. "Well, I doubt any of us wish to spend the night here… and the afternoon is failing us quickly."

"True," murmured Mew Ichigo as she looked at the bits of sky past the leaves above. "We might as well head back and tell Shirogane and Akasaka-san what we know. If anyone, they'll know what to do next."

She turned back and the others agreed with their eyes.

There was always tomorrow after all.

With heartfelt farewell, Mew Pudding released what she and her siblings would likely have treated as a family pet and she and the other Mew Mews watched as it sprung a few hops before vanishing back into the fog of the forest.

Then the turned and started to leave the area themselves when Mew Ichigo stopped and looked back, her skin tingling with a preset sensation of the chills.

"Ichigo?" Mew Mint questioned. They were leaving, yet Ichigo still seemed a bit out of it. "What's wrong?"

"Ah…" she replied as she broke her momentary trance on the unknown. "No… it's nothing really. Just a feeling of some sort." _A creepy feeling._

"Ok."

With that settled, the girls went on their way, a returned Masha still happily fluttering about while they picked their way back from the wild nothingness. Their retreating backs watched only by that of the sole cricket of the forest, as it worked its own way back into its forest home.

Being a cricket… it didn't really think thoughts of loneliness or of cold. Perhaps it knew more than given credit for, but it did nothing to indicate such as it picked its way about based only on whim of the moment. Completely unaware of the unnatural occurrences or of the descending fog that quietly blanketed the forest floor once again.

While within that very fog, something stirred to life… particles flowing over particles as water flows over saturated earth until it crept about as though of its own volition. Something that from vapors was given form, as it snaked its way across the ground as would a fast paced amoeba. Something that had its sight solely on that same cricket, as it rushed forward and flowed effortlessly into its thorax, where upon just its touch an icy layer encrusted and spread, caring not for the spasms it induced, or that the creature may be engulfed in pain… until the very last bit of antennae and twitching limb were encased in solid ice.

An ice so solid that the cricket itself disappeared from view as an unnatural bluish-white glow from within pushed the agenda and the ice began to grow outward and up as would an icicle grow round and down.

But it was to the size of a small car when it could only be described as reaching the breaking-point, to which the ice and cricket within shattered, falling to the ground as a pile of broken ice fragments. Where they lay upon the ground and started to melt… where even as water returned to the ground… it also rolled off the ice's surface, and into the air…

…as a cool, forest fog.


	2. Return Path

Chapter 2: **Return Path**

"-And that's about all there was to it." Finished Ichigo in the group report to Shirogane and Akasaka at the café Mew Mew.

Contrary to the level of light in the deepest region of the forest's interior, it was actually quite early still, which was a fact that didn't do much to hurt their feelings any.

"Hmmm…" pondered Ryou at the conclusion of Ichigo's report. He looked at the data from Masha and it seemed to support everything mentioned in her words, but not having had her around for a while was enough cause for him to catch her ire. "Well… it's certainly true on both information and your words certainly coincide with everything but the level of vagueness you gave beforehand."

"Vagueness?" Ichigo started. "What do you mean?"

"I think he means that you are not entirely focused for the moment at hand." Stated Zakuro calmly and straightforward.

"Not that we don't know what tends to occupy your mind on a regular basis anyways…" Added Minto with suppressed amusement.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Stated Ichigo hurriedly, though her cheeks began to flush as she spoke. There was simply no hiding it when it came to her unofficial boyfriend.

"Hmmmm…?" inquired Minto smugly. If anything at all, she simply liked the way that Ichigo squirmed under pressure… there certainly was no greater joy achieved by teasing anyone else.

"Er-"

"That aside," interceded Zakuro as she stepped forward, letting Ichigo have a moment to get her thoughts organized, "I thought I'd show you something I brought with me from the forest, Shirogane."

"What's that?" He inquired.

"This," she pulled out the damaged plant seedling from before and placed it in Shiogane's upturned hand. "There's clearly several different types of damage here. It wasn't alone either, as I noted other plants of a similar nature."

"Hm."

Ryou took the plant and looked it over. It was certainly true that the plant itself had taken heavy damage for a region that was known for its spontaneous and persistent regenerative properties. As such, it was odd that one… let alone any should be injured at all.

He swiveled around in his desk chair and presented it to his partner standing beside him.

"Keiichiro, look at this."

Keiichiro took it and rolled it about in his palm, much as Zakuro had done herself earlier. His face sank into an expressionless appearance reflective of heavy thought and consideration.

"This is interesting." He said as he held it flat upon his palm so all could see. "Here", he pointed at the limp slack of stem, "you can see how the plant is rubbery and weak. That's typically seen with plants that have been frosted or in a severe chill. While at the same time, here," he said as he moved his finger to a withered and crumpled leaf not far away, "the leaf is dried and brittle." He demonstrated by grinding the leaf between two fingers, into a small dust before looking up. "This suggests… dehydration as in drought, or that it was exposed to a significant heat source. One that did not allow it time to wilt before draining it of the moisture within.

"While certainly not atypical of events in nature, to happen on the same plant of this size and in a relatively close time frame makes this more than suspicious." He put the plant in a sealable bag and set it on the computer desk for later study before turning to the window, where he wore a resigned look. "While I'd like for you to find more information, I'm afraid we're out of time for tonight."

"That said," Ryou said after having clapped loudly to get their attention, "that's it for tonight, seeing as how you can't do much else. So go home for tonight, but please return here tomorrow for further instruction."

"Just like that?" Ichigo scoffed. "No readjustment time or anything?"

"Why?" asked Ryou nonchalantly. "Just disregard the time without the DNA influence and act like nothing has changed and you'll be fine with it. Anyways, Keiichiro and I have work to do, so we'll see you tomorrow then."

With that, he gave a small wave and turned away, intent on dropping the discussion there, while Ichigo's face began to flush with frustration.

"Sh-ir-o-ga-ne…." she started as she began to creep forward.

"Ichigo."

She felt a restraining hand upon her shoulder and was surprised to see Zakuro holding her back.

"Leave it at this for today, and let yourself the night to think it over."

"Hua-" sighed Minto as she came beside her. "Onee-sama has a point. Besides, with the way you act it's as though you are the only one inconvenienced. Just think of onee-sama's tight schedule as she goes into fall production! That she managed to have the time simply to see us today is a treasure in itself."

"Er-" Ichigo uttered at the sparkly expression on Minto's face. "Strangely though, you never seem much bothered by it…"

"Purin's not bothered by it either! Purin gets to fight again!"

"I think it's just good to have my friends close again…" thought Retasu aloud. "Though it could be troublesome at times if there was a reason to be troublesome… or something."

_Gah._ Thought Ichigo, stupefied by the virtual replay of the last time she voiced her dissatisfaction of having the genetic disposition hanging over her relationship with Aoyam-

"ACK!! What time is it!?" Ichigo cried out as she fumbled for her cell phone. "Ah! This late already?? Ahh… I'll never make it in time – er – no, I'm late already! Bye!" She finished hastily as she tried to organize herself before dashing up the stairs and out of sight.

…

"What was that all that about?" wondered Minto as she looked at the empty spot that was previously occupied by the girl whose antics always caused her much wonder.

"Probably a forgotten meeting with Aoyama-san." Suggested Retasu unaffected by the hasty departure.

"Most likely. There's no other sensible explanation." Acknowledged Zakuro.

"At least not for her." Finished Purin.

* * *

Ichigo flopped onto her bed out of sheer exhaustion from the day's events. And that she actually forgot about her date with her precious Aoyama-kun… 

She sighed as she rolled onto her stomach and pulled her cell phone out.

Despite having looked at the time while at the shop, she missed everything else like the idiot she was determined she was and ran without break to simply find an empty meeting place. Something that given her past experience was shocked to see, until she noticed that he had already sent a text message letting her know that he'd just catch her the next day.

At school…

She sighed again.

Things were just too complicated anymore.

* * *

Like a zombie Ichigo removed her outdoor shoes and swapped them with her indoor shoes, her body weighing heavy due to her exaggerated sagging of her shoulders. That and the lack of sleep, having to accept that trouble into her life again. 

A life that had just returned to normal…

Sigh.

"Ichigo, Morning!"

"Good morning Ichigo."

Ichigo lolled her head away from trying to adjust her shoes as her eyes fell upon that of her two friends, who as always, seemed bright and full of life.

She was so envious sometimes…

"Ah, good morning… Moe… Miwa."

"Ichigo…?" questioned Miwa with concern at Ichigo's demeanor. "What's wrong?"

"Too many things." Ichigo replied weakly. _And most I can't talk about._

"Hnm? Does it have to do with Aoyama?" inquired Moe. She knew that was usually the source of Ichigo's despair.

"Uaah…" groaned Ichigo. "That's part of it."

Miwa and Moe paused to share a silent exchange through each other's eyes.

"And I thought you two have been doing well lately" said Miwa contemplatively, "you certainly got that much happier and close."

"Knowing Ichigo, she forgot about a date or the like." Moe added.

Ichigo absently nodded her head. That was part of it… but there were so many factors that she didn't even want to entertain.

"Well… if that's all, then you should be better in no time." Moe said with an encouraging pat on Ichigo's back.

"Yes, well, let's go to class now," suggested Miwa at the lack of other students, "and if you manage, you can talk to him during lunch break.

"Ok."

* * *

Ichigo draped her arms over the railing while overlooking the school grounds, as she usually did whenever she wanted to clear her thoughts of the day… though in this case, there wasn't anyway for that to be possible. 

Like it or not, she was a Mew Mew again. Though looking at it logically, she really never had stopped being one, just being without the effects for a brief spell.

She sighed.

Just when she thought her relationship with Aoyama-kun could move forward unrestricted by anything but better judgment, this happens. Her powers returned… and with them all the problems associated. But most of all…

She brought a trembling hand to her lips.

Kissing was out of the realm of possibility, unless she wanted to become a cat again. And that was just too cruel.

It just was.

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo snapped up at the sound of the soft voice as it lolled across her ears, diverting full attention to its direction.

"Aoyama-kun!"

Ichigo stared across to the gentle but firm face of her object of affection as he came forward with a calm manner of suppressed concern. She felt the tears of overwhelmed emotions coming to her eyes. Apart from the other Mew Mews, he was the only one in which she could confide in.

But what should she say? She didn't know how to say it, how to part with the normalcy that she had worked so hard to achieve… for not only her, but both of them, as each shared their own scars together. Both having weathered the same threats and hardships as one… but, but this was more of the same wasn't it?

Why was it so hard?

"I-I- ah?!" she stumbled upon before feeling herself pulled forward into the arms and against the chest of her Aoyama as he pulled her to him in a wordless gestured act of consoling.

"It's ok, Ichigo." Aoyama said in rich soothing tones. "You don't have to tell me for me to know that there's something troubling you. But you know that whatever it is, we'll face it together. You aren't alone, you never have been."

Ichigo felt her cheeks flush at the gentle but firm tones of his words. That, coupled with his rich heartbeat and the warmth emanating from his chest, it was only serving to drive her own heartbeat into a slowly increasing cascade, that came along with a familiar tingling sensation in her ears.

_Ears!?_

Not like this, she thought desperately. With words, with discussion… not direct revelation! But her heart, her heart… she couldn't stop it. Screwing her eyes shut she buried her face against his chest.

-Pop-

Ichigo let out an irrepressible cry of frustrated embarrassment at the renewed spontaneous appearance of her cat ears and tail. One that didn't go unnoticed.

"Ichigo!?" Aoyama cried out in stunned recognition of both sound and feel of fur against his cheek, surprised and shocked by the unprecedented re-emergence.

"Aoyama, I-"

* * *

Aoyama leaned against the railing as Ichigo stood behind him with her ears returned to normal, facing the opposite direction and staring indiscriminately into the distance. A gentle breeze blew through their hair as punctuation to Ichigo's finished account. 

"I see…" Aoyama said thoughtfully. "Your powers; and the other Mews?"

"Yes, the loss was simply temporary for all of us." She said silently, her head bowed.

"And on top of that, a new enemy?"

"Looks like it," Ichigo admitted to her regret, "at least that's what Shirogane and Akasaka-san believe. That and the forest itself is strange."

"And you're going to re-investigate after school?"

"Something like that." Ichigo uttered reluctantly.

"I suppose you'll be working at the shop again, much like before?"

"Probably."

"Ok then." Aoyama said thoughtfully, trying to reabsorb the information for future reference.

There seemed to be a brief pause in comment, as though a silent treatment, though that itself was far from the truth, since both were simply absorbed in the moment.

"If that's how it is… I'll go too."

Ichigo's head snapped upward. She turned back around and looked at Aoyama's back.

"What?"

"Would that be okay?" he ventured with a smile.

"B-but you're powers… if something happened…"

Aoyama stood up and faced Ichigo with a smile, a rarity for his true self. He turned his hands palm up and looked at them in subdued dismay.

"Indeed, without the Mew Aqua, and other factors, I'm powerless." He curled his fingers in and then looked to Ichigo's eyes. "But I can't stand by and let you go alone. It's just not right."

"Aoyama…"

Again a moment's silence as both stared at each other, their thoughts thick with conflicting emotions and ideals. A wordless exchange that spoke volumes until that silence was broken by the chimes that signaled the end of break.

"Well then," Aoyama said as he slowly withdrew, pausing only to look back. "I'll see you later then?"

Ichigo held her hand out, as though hesitant to part. "Ah, um, don't you have practice later?"

"Yes," he smiled. "But there's plenty of time afterwards."

"But by that time-"

"Don't worry, I'll catch up."

Ichigo watched his back retreat through the other door as she lowered his hand.

Was it really okay?

"Ah shoot!" Ichgio started with sudden realization. "Gotta get to class!"

* * *

Ichigo took a deep breath as she put her hand to the door to the shop. 

The sign still said closed, but she knew that that would change soon enough. Through this door was a life of a waitress that awaited her, though only when she wasn't around saving the city from the evil menaces that threatened her way of life, as well as the world beyond. Through this door was a return to a life beyond normalcy's subtle reach.

She sighed as she gave it a light push, nearly falling out of shock as it was wrenched open from the inside.

"ICHIGO-ONEE-CHAN!!!"

"Purin!?"

Ichigo realized had managed to recover from the near fall, but not from the surprise before her.

Though she had thought she was early for a change, everyone was already inside and awaiting instruction from Ryou and Keiichiro.

"You're late, Ichigo." Said Ryou firmly.

"Really…" Minto said with a condescending air. "It must be nice living so leisurely in life."

Ichigo felt a burr of anger. "You're one to talk of leisure…"

"Ichigo-san…" Retasu said nervously with both hands held in front of her, as to tell Ichigo to calm down.

Zakuro simply gave a small sigh and redirected her attention back to Ryou.

"Now that everyone is here," Ryou said while avoiding agitating Ichigo further, "Keiichiro?"

Ryou stepped back as Keiichiro brought everyone's attention to the monitors of the computers at each of their tables.

"After reviewing the found data and your accounts, it is no more clear of the location of the new threat than the day before. Though we can estimate that all input from your report before are pieces of the greater puzzle.

"For example, if you look here," he pointed to a larger monitor beside him, to a region shaded blue, against the greater green area representing the vast forests of Tokyo. "Thermal imaging from weather satellites indicate a temperature falling of an estimated ten to twenty degrees Celsius relative to surrounding areas. Also, if you look here," he pointed to areas of red within the blue region, "you'll note that temperatures indicate a gain of anywhere to three or more times larger than the fall."

"Is it going up or down?" Minot questioned. "And why would it?"

"Fire and Ice." Ryou supplied simply. "Or something close to that."

"From what, though?" wondered Retasu.

"That is…"

Keiichiro punched a few commands into the computer and the monitor began to display numbered sequences at varied areas within the blue and red areas. Even while resuming an explanation, the numbers continued to overlap the ones before.

"Each of these numbers represent a different alien life form, more specifically, a state of parasitic evolution."

"Parasitic evolution?" asked Ichigo confused.

"Yes," Keiichiro began, "we were uncertain at first as well. After all, we all know the aliens use already completed parasitic aliens to create Chimera Anima. This however, does nothing to explain these figures, which correspond to an incomplete structuring of such parasitic beings."

"Do you mean to say that something other than the aliens themselves are trying to duplicate the life forms used to create Chimera Anima?" asked Zakuro passively.

"Unfortunate, we can't deny that possibility." Keiichiro frowned and stopped the program, the overlapped numbers now illegible and blurred together. "When we were finished processing the data, we recorded over three thousand instances of these attempts, and their progressive evolution to a level truer to that of the original specimens.

"The number even as now continues to increase. As does this region of difference.

"This only makes it more obvious that the two are connected. Though with what data we have, nothing matches the files in existence."

"That's why," started Ryou as he stepped forward, "it's up to you to go out and bring back a connection. With this unknown weighing upon us, it's all the more urgent to resolve, and in a fashion that's as timely as possible. For no one knows what will happen once this current evolution reaches a point of finalization.

"I don't want to think that it's too late when it does."

With that finishing up the discussion, the five girls stood with a resolute look of determination, even Ichigo who had still not accepted it all. But she vowed to do her best.

"Tokyo Mew Mew, Go!"


	3. Encounter

Chapter 3: **Encounter**

Mew Ichigo batted a branch away from her in annoyance.

Like anyone else in their group, she understood the importance of everything they were trying to do, and above all, who they would protect by doing so, but still. To think that she used to like forests a lot better. Though at least real forests have dirt floors—not jagged, broken slabs of street and buildings.

Of course, real forests don't have giant bugs either, but then again, much like last time there wasn't much in the way of life at all, save on the outskirts of the forest's edge. As though things—all things living—feared the deepest regions.

Mew Ichigo swallowed.

"Is it just me or does anyone else think it's darker in here than before?"

"I wouldn't have thought it possible to be more unsettling than before," admitted Mew Lettuce softly, "but now that I know something of what is going on within, it makes me all the more afraid."

"Regardless of those fears, we must move forward." stated Mew Zakuro matter-of-factly.

"Still…" uttered Mew Mint softly as she regarded her surroundings. "Even then the uneasiness just doesn't disappear."

"Especially when that much closer to the source?" Mew Zakuro asked with a softer tone. "I suppose that that is understandable."

"Although even something like that, we just don't know." Mew Ichigo said more to herself than the others. "Masha?" She asked their small companion above. "Let us know when we get close, ok?"

"Of course, Ichigo!"

Was that really reliable? Ichigo had to wonder that to herself. Last time they had entered right into the middle of said disturbance and hadn't detected anything, though Shirogane and Akasaka-san's readings showed a dramatic proliferation of such creatures, immature or not.

Even though her senses hadn't picked up anything suspicious either, she found it hard to believe that they couldn't have been there among them.

But they didn't see them… and if they hadn't seen them, then wasn't there a way to see them?

She just didn't know.

"It should be okay now," said Mew Lettuce with a smile, as though she had caught onto Ichigo's inner thoughts. "We just have to believe that."

Mew Ichigo tried to force a smile of reassurance but to no avail. She just found it hard to hold a positive mentality while facing this unknown.

Something about it just didn't sit well with her.

Thinking back to her conversation with Aoyama-kun, she felt uneasy in his wish to participate, and secretly hoped that his practice ran much later than she previously hoped. Though she wasn't certain about her placement here, she definitely couldn't agree to the same with someone missing even the smallest semblance of power. More so now that she knew some of the details involved.

It just seemed like a bad idea.

* * *

Aoyama Masaya paid the fare for the cab and thanked the driver. At a time like this, with the trains down one either went on foot or found alternative modes of travel. Though, taxis came at a fairly expensive price, they were still quick enough that it was worth it, especially when one was in a hurry. 

Still, with the way the deep forest was, even those very drivers didn't approach those parts of the denser forest easily. At best, even getting left off several blocks away was a bargain, where any closer nearly tripled the price of the ride.

They were that unnerved.

But as Aoyama made his way past the few trees of the intermediate forest, it was easy to understand why the deepest regions caused feelings of wariness, as even the so-called normal trees of the 'mostly unaffected' parts of the region didn't obey normal circumstance. Just like the deeper forest, the effects of severing a limb here would yield similar results of self-regeneration that would make anyone paranoid. All in all, this was close enough for them.

After all… Tokyo was in ruin… a ruin that he took full responsibility.

Just the thought of the memory was enough for him to clench his hand vehemently. Those kinds of things were un-needed in his memory… but even that outward denial didn't change the utter truth.

He was, had been… the menace Deep Blue.

Like it or not, that was the reality. It didn't matter that he could put it off by saying he was 'just a host', because he, even as a host provided the raw power that sustained the man that dictated his actions.

Or was it a man at all?

Forget whether 'alien' or 'human', that wasn't of any importance. It seemed to him at least, if no one else, that Deep Blue was a force of nature. Nature that saw no need of any manner of existence besides its self. A force that had tried to use him to destroy everything. Even as a vessel to that, he could feel there was something just not… organic about it.

Whatever the case, it really wasn't of importance, other than knowing that thanks to Ichigo and her friends, it was now a matter of the past.

That and his 'death' after the expenditure of life from the Mew Aqua he had contained within. In a way, even though that cost him his power, and his purpose as a protector of Ichigo, he felt reborn.

It was odd.

As he was before, those very people he had saved were part of the noise than he had despised and wished to be rid of. Part of his true 'darkness' that gave him meaning past the lies of his outer shell. And then not only did he save those same people, he had abandoned his own destructive and spiteful tendencies.

In truth, through that action alone, he had become a protector of everyone.

Though… to protect without power, that wasn't too easy. That's why his support of Ichigo was more important at this time than any before. It was the reason for his continued existence. And that's why he was choosing this, the path on with he now traveled, that should Ichigo and the others not find anything at all, maybe he could.

Although given the choice, he'd rather the chance of meeting up with Ichigo then remain alone… but that was just common sense.

Still…

Already, it was strange.

Knowing how of late, most people in their general reluctance to approach any aspect of the deeper forest kept them at a fair distance, it did nothing to explain the growing crowds just on the deeper forest's edge. In fact, looking around, it seemed almost as if people were tentatively beginning to flock to that edge in groups. Though nothing seemed to be there but the endless expanse of trees, there had to be something drawing them.

"- ey say-"

"-ew Mews are-"

"No way, real-"

"-Serious? I-"

Aoyama paused at the random but conclusive bits of conversation floating on the air.

So that was it. Someone must have seen their entrance into the forest and by word of mouth… the news of a sighting spread quickly even through the cautious.

Cautious…

It was almost surprising that they would still react in such a manner. After all, their immediate disappearance following the resurrection of Tokyo as a forest led to a reasonable amount of conflicted emotions and heated debates as to what exactly had happened. Nevertheless, despite the holes in the theories surrounding the mystery, the girls themselves were lauded as celebrities. Even a simple sighting was big news… which was all the more apparent by the presence of news vans and media than anything else.

Nevertheless, even though he was in a hurry to do what he could, it wasn't wise to rush into such an area in plain sight of so many people. It was a slim possibility, but if a connection of his being there and Tokyo Mew Mew's being there was related to a similar theme, further investigations by an outside party may stumble upon the greater relationship, which was certainly not needed in the least.

Though thinking logically… there were already too many obvious ties that made it beyond dangerous. But there was nothing he could do about that.

In regards to the crowds…

It looked like there really wasn't any other way. From just simple observation, the throng of people massed just before him fanned out in either direction of the forest's edge for as far as he could see. Even if there was an opening in-between… anywhere in-between… it seemed impossible to simply pass through unnoticed.

He needed an 'in' of sorts… but what?

"Yo! Mai!"

So loud was the voice over the chatter of the crowds that it momentarily pulled him from his thoughts.

"Hey, Mai!"

Really loud. With little interest but to pinpoint the annoyance, Aoyama scanned the edge of the immediate crowd to see a man with a news camera walking the edge of the forest towards his respective van. His colleague, a woman reporter in her thirties, whom he was yelling for, also seemed somewhat annoyed by his volume as she stood partially hidden behind a throng of people obviously vying for attention if not a chance to be part of the news.

"Jeez Henri, what is it?" she asked definitely annoyed.

"I've finished the perimeter shots with nothing much to show but interested onlookers." He said without taking notice of his partner's attitude. "I think that if we want the money shots, we won't get them out here."

"Then are you suggesting we head into the forest?" She said looking dubious. "I'm game if you are, so long as we get the news and don't become it."

"Well," he said uncertain, his facial expressions hidden by the shadow of his baseball cap. "I don't mind, but with the extra equipment we probably won't get too far in."

"Since when is that a problem? Just acquire a temporary assistant from the crowd. You shouldn't have to ask too much."

"Ha… ahaha… ah… well that… I did ask some people. But they said I couldn't give them enough for going in there."

"Really?" She turned towards those in the crowd who had been paying attention and they shrunk back in a moment. "Com'on, anybody? How 'bout you sir," she said acknowledging a somewhat burly man in the front. "You look capable enough. It's only to carry a few things."

"No way… really." Said the man uneasily, having been singled out. "Anybody willing to go into the deeper sections probably haven't even ventured beyond the edge. Forget the plain eeriness of it all… but think giant insects and binding plants that can't be cut… and other things… you'll never want to go in again. Count me out."

"Hmmm…" she thought pensively for a moment. "I think you're just telling a story now. It can't be that bad."

There was a brief silence as she scanned the unwilling faces of the audience. Even other news castors seemed to blanch at the thought.

"Isn't there anyone?"

"Sure, I'll go."

There was a flutter of activity as the crowd parted to let the owner of the voice step forward. To which Aoyama proceeded with a smile as he made his way past the silent, all the way to the reporter, to whom he stopped before.

"It sounds interesting."

* * *

Mew Ichigo's ears twitched with a twinge of uncertainty for which the source she could not discern. Though considering the nature of her surroundings, just the latent concern was not only obvious, but expected. It would be difficult to tolerate the person who wasn't affected in such ways. 

For this environment was dangerous.

Rather, it had been dangerous and increasingly so as they proceeded further into the interior of the first blue sector of Ryou's map. Following a path that took their group only deeper into the territory of the unknown that had laid siege to this land, after they had saved it from Deep Blue.

It seemed unjust, and more than just a bit unfair.

Unjust in that there was any threat at all, and unfair in that their lives were topsy-turvy all over again. Surely there is a better life than one of a 'super powered lady of justice', even if the attention had its perks in the beginning. Surely there are other solutions than confrontation…

Surely there was a way to both protect and to love?

Mew Ichigo shook her head at the idea, almost as though afraid that the mere thought of a kiss may turn her into her entirely feline form. That was just silly… and there were other things than that to occupy her thoughts. 'Why', 'how', and 'where' being among the many silent questions that frothed within.

After all… it seemed to her as though the five of them had been proceeding forward with far too much of nothing to fall back upon but holes in a theory not even worth its own weight. That lack of everything and the presence of nothing was the real concern. The truth of this forest and its happenings were just the kind of things she wished not to appear in her life. And with a quick look at her allies, it seemed a universal consensus.

But to say that nothing at all was good, wasn't right either… considering it just left them empty-handed. Which was never a good thi—wait.

Mew Ichigo's mental thought process came to a halt as a familiar presence careened into her senses. Was it—?

She quickly surveyed her immediate surroundings, including the state of her friends (who were relatively as they had been), before thrusting her eyes skyward.

"MASHA!"

At Ichigo's summon, Masha came fluttering through the forest canopy from somewhere behind them, as the other Mews ceased the forward movement.

"Ichigo? Wha-?" began Mew Mint, as the small Masha passed before her.

"Masha!" Mew Ichigo cried hurriedly, "Scan quickly!"

Masha paused a moment in midair as he recalibrated his internal sensors to heightened sensitivity before his eyes flew open in response to detection.

"Aliens, aliens!!"

"But where?" asked Mew Lettuce as her eyes passed nervously over the darker region in the forest gap ahead of them.

"Somewhere just ahead." Responded Mew Zakuro without hesitation. "I can feel them." She lifted her cross from her side and motioned in the general direction.

"This way."

With full intent to get to the bottom of this strange occurrence, Mew Zakuro barreled ahead, slave to instinct and ignorant to rationality. Forward without hesitation, giving the others a difficult task of catch-up.

However, just as she reached the forest gap, she stopped in full, as unearthly lighted blue and red shadows danced upon her skin and clothing. Her normally sharp eyes wide with uncertain emotion.

"What the-?"

* * *

"What the-?" 

"What's up, Henri?" The female reporter asked her camera man laughingly. "Don't tell me you're spooked of a little forest?"

"Little… eh?"

He lifted his camera pack higher upon his shoulder as he surveyed the canopy above him, as well as the silent woods around. It was a lot thicker here than the surrounding forests, and he could see why such a thing nobody would want to enter.

"I don't think I've ever been in such a dense forest as this." He thought aloud. "You're not used to it, are you?" he asked incredulously.

"No… not at all." She replied in a hushed voice. "Just smaller ones, albeit maybe only gardens and parks and whatnot… certainly nothing like this. It's kinda of neat, eh?" She looked over her shoulder. "How about you, Aoyama?"

"Hmmm." He said pensively. "It's a healthy change from the old congestion of the city. But I suppose it could be unnerving."

"Healthy… you say…"

"It's not?" He thought about the perspective and who he was talking to. "Well, if not a bit intimidating."

"Just a bit?" asked the reporter unsure. "You've been here before then?"

"Maybe not here specifically," Aoyama said after some thought, "but a place similar."

"Heh." Laughed the amused camera man, "what a strange guy you are. To be familiar with such places."

Aoyama re-adjusted the equipment slung about his shoulder and smiled. "I suppose I'm simply open minded to things of an unusual nature."

"Unusual, eh?" said the reporter distantly as she regarded the vast depths of the forest around her. "I'd say... But forests aside, what else counts as 'unusual' in your life? Being that you seem well acquainted."

Aoyama smiled at the question, thinking of the many things strange and unusual that he knew all too well, before answering without pause to the reporter's inquiry.

"Though I may not talk like it, true to my age I am a teenager." Aoyama added with a smirk. "What isn't unusual for those entering puberty?"

At this, prior to the reporter's reply, her cameraman erupted in a fit of laughter which nearly caused him to lose his footing in the uncertain terrain.

"Jesus, Henri." Said the reporter crossly.

"Sorry Mai, but you gotta admit that the kid's got style!" He recovered from his bout of laughter and resumed a steady pace. "I say if he proves his worth, we consider keeping him for-"

"Hold it!" Mai interceded, eyes darting among the gaps between the forest trees.

"What is it?" her partner asked concerned.

"I don't know..." she started uncertainly. "Something. I thought I saw..."

"Kid, how 'bout you?" asked the cameraman, apprehensively, yet wondering where to point his camera first. "Did you see anything?"

"No..." Aoyama said quietly as he lowered the equipment in his hands to the forest floor. "I don't think... but perhaps..." he selected a piece of wood that had roughly the weight of a kendo sword and took it in his hands, keeping the tip low, and his eyes to the trees. "...if there's something."

"Something? Like wha-"

The voice of the cameraman trailed off and there was a muffled shriek of surprise that caused Aoyama to whip around, just in time to see the two people slump to the forest floor unconscious.

"Wha-"

* * *

Mew Ichigo crept to Mew Zakuro's side, the same lights dancing across her skin, as well as the others behind her. 

"What... what's this?"

Unneeded, the reply was silent, as the Mews fell in awe of the sight before their eyes.

In an area sparse of trees, rising like ghostly jellyfish, were hundreds... no, innumerable quantities of parasitic aliens. Creatures unlike the well-formed and unmistakable jellyfish-type used before against Kisshu and the others, these versions looked more like rising mists and blurs of shape that flowed through the air as would water across rock. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen.

"This... this is...?"

* * *

Aoyama swung the sword-like stick hard in the direction of the figure before him, only to see its great ineffectiveness as it splintered upon contact with but a simple block. An action that put him completely off-guard as the figure reached through the broken shards and put its hand about his neck... hoisting him off the ground with just as little effort. 

"Heh." Chuckled the figure who lay unnaturally tucked in darkness. "To think... that I'd find a Vector here, of all things, of all places. How intriguing."

Aoyama struggled helplessly against the iron grip about his neck, a grip that was suffocating. A grip he could not loosen.

"W--- wh- who are y- you?" he gasped out.

"I?" asked the figure as he loosened his grip about Aoyama's neck only slightly. "I am one who you must always remember.

"I am...

"Midnight."


	4. Test

Chapter 4: **Test**

Aoyama fought weakly against the hold about his neck, but knew that even greater effort would be to no avail. The fingers around the fore-part of his neck were at worse like iron. At best he didn't even try to think.

"M-m-mid-night?" Aoyama choked out. His desperate eyes tried to penetrate the shallow darkness that had overtaken his vision—effectively having distorted and otherwise obscured the truth behind the figure before him.

"That's right. Remember it well, because you'll be hearing it often. Of that I assure you."

Aoyama's eyes continued to close more as the darkness clouded his sight. Was he to die here he wondered? And what of those he had accompanied to this forsaken place? Were they to die as well? One more death than his own was too much weight upon his conscious.

It was more than he could take. And what of Ichigo and the other Mews? The troubles they may face—and that of the one before him—were they one and the same or competing entities vying for power over this desolate region devoid of civilization? And what had his role been in the entire scheme of things... or was his role already ended?

"Unfortunately... no." Midnight ascertained, as though knowing full well of his thoughts. "And the two behind me? They'll live as well. Because killing you here and now? There's no point.

"Especially when the fun is only getting started."

* * *

"Th-this is...?" 

Mew Lettuce stopped short as she came beside the still and stunned Mew Ichigo and Mew Zakuro. The sight before her eyes stealing all sense of logic from her thoughts, as well as staying her tongue. What was worse than the sight before them was the knowledge of it they had ahead of time. The point being that they knew.

They already knew.

Well—somewhat. They were told an overview and nothing more specific that these things existed and were vast in number. That and the apparent lack of other sustained life was proof of what was being seen now... but even the proof could do nothing for fraying nerves and the sheer uncomforted atmosphere that was pressing down all around them.

"Is this... even possible?"

"Does it matter?" asked Mew Zakuro as she regained her cool composure. She touched the Mew trigger at her neck. "Shirogane, Keiichiro, are you seeing this?"

"Ah..." came a voice through a cloud of transmission static. "Somewhat. Even with Masha's video streaming, it's a corrupted feedback. However, from the readings it's apparent that this is neither a blue nor red area, but a combination of the two, correct?"

"Yes, that's right. And if your numbers seem too large, error on the larger scale."

There was a brief pause from the other side, before Shirogane acknowledged her report. "I understand. However, with such numbers it may take a while to reconfigure our maps before we will be able to properly pinpoint a source, should there be a source to this."

"Understood." Mew Zakuro cast a look to her friends at her side and back. "Everyone, let's do our best to observe from the perimeter before we rush ahead and into a mistake. Be careful."

"Yes." The other girls replied in unison.

With that moment of confidence and their spirits momentarily renewed, the mews launched into several directions, honoring Mew Zakuro's words, they hugged the perimeter of the clearing as they made certain to keep a safe distance away. Though it was only a moment of renewal, it was a great instance for the battle wary team... as it had been just that long of an intermission since their last serious confrontation. Luckily, with neither animals nor people within the forest close enough, there was no danger of a spontaneous chimera animal, even with the presence of so many parasites.

Still, even that reassurance wasn't completely without worry. After all, the simple fact that they existed—incomplete or not—was more than enough reason to worry. For if someone did decide to proceed with a completed mass of this size, it'd make the random lackeys of Kishu and the others seem like child's play.

And there was still the matter of color and the absence of life within the clearing. Did clearings exist within overbearing forests?

Mew Ichigo shook all these excess worries from her head as she continued around. Surely, without a doubt there was simply no end to the incomplete parasitic aliens that were around. Suddenly, there was an electronic crackle about her neck and Mew Pudding's voice idly commenting something nearly unintelligible, but something along the lines of size and quantity. Well—with that there was certainly no disagreement.

She really hoped Aoyama-kun stayed away from this... his mind had handled enough since he shared the bond with Deep Blue, that however romantic he was to insist helping, it certainly was more worrisome than not. But with no sign of him so far, made her worry for another reason.

-Z-pkzzm-

"Eh?" Mew Ichigo wondered aloud. A strange noise had come from the trigger at her neck. She wondered for a moment if she was out of range? No, that was impossible, as she had never seen a larger range for electrical signal as these things had.

She sprung up onto a heaved piece of surviving concrete and looked it over. It didn't seem different. She had to test it to make sure.

"Can anyone hear me?"

Silence.

She tried again. This time there was more static, but sounded like an attempted response. She cocked her head to the side, one of her cat ears rotated slightly before it twitched involuntarily.

"Nya?"

* * *

At the same time, away from Ichigo, the other Mews were experiencing similar problems, each pausing to test their devices 

Each responding in their own manners to the annoyance and focusing their attentions solely on the minor communication difficulties.

* * *

"Ryo! This is-?!" Keiichiro said as he hastily stood to look at the satellite graphing image on the computer screens, his chair having already crashed on the floor in the moment of dishevel. 

"Frequencies... thermo-imaging irregularities and dissonant wavelengths—all off the charts!" He looked at the temperature indicator as it oscillated radically and then grabbed the communications microphone. "Mew Ichigo! Mew Zakuro! Can anyone hear me?!" He paused a moment to listen; only getting static silence as a response. He slammed his hands against the table. "Just what is going on there!?"

* * *

"Pooh." Mew Pudding said looking slightly perplexed as she hung upside down by her tail from the branch she had until just a moment ago been sitting on. "Is it broken?" She asked to no one as she tapped the device in her hands. "Or is it—ara?" 

She stopped mid-thought as the device began to flash on its surface, something it never had done before... or... more on the surface, like reflection or something?

She let her head drop all the way down so she could see the clearing once again. Like before, it was filled with countless numbers of the parasitic alien creatures, but unlike the time before, they were all flashing their individual color in no apparent rate or organization. In a way, it reminded her of a police siren, but bigger and more—a lot more of them. It was almost pretty if not completely mesmerizing.

A small disturbance of the hair on her tail made her look up. Seemingly drawn by the flashing lights, a small beetle—much smaller than typical in this dense forest of strange creatures—had paused to rest.

Mew Pudding let out a breath. If it was just a little beetle, then there was nothing to be worried abou—? Her brain seized as it did the math. Beetle + Parasitic Alien Chimera Anima Trouble! She had to catch it, and quickly before—too late! Just as she had positioned her hands to catch the beetle, it launched from her tail, hovered into the clearing, and then was lost in the thick of the red and blue mass.

* * *

Without warning, Mew Ichigo felt as though she had been doused in a bucket of cold water, with her stomach in a knot and the hair on her tail bristled. Rather than worrying about the malfunction, she should keep in mind her present location, as she had forgotten about it completely, and as of the moment, something was happening. Some kind of flashy thing? She hesitated a moment, before she took off in the initial direction she had started on. If there was something amiss ahead, then she would tell the others, if not, she would still continue on until she met them. 

Amiss?

By chance, at a glance across the clearing she happened to see Mew Pudding as she rushed to the edge of her section of forest. As she was waving her arms, it seemed as though she might have discovered something, but with another look, it seemed otherwise, as her sole concentration was now upon the clearing alone. What had happened aside from the flashing, or was it the flashing? Or maybe—

—There! Just in front—was that—it couldn't be!—but if it was...

A curse filled her unspoken thoughts as the realization dawned on her. Like it or not, a small beetle had found its way into the clearing, perhaps drawn by the flashing light, since the forest itself seemed devoid of life. A flashing that of that moment had suddenly stopped, and the parasites, seemingly aware of its presence, acted upon it.

And before Mew Ichigo could even utter a sound, a blue parasitic alien flowed into the beetle.

* * *

The effect was instantaneous, and all at once, all eyes of all Mews were fast upon it. 

With the sound of water meeting liquid nitrogen, the insect was forcibly concealed within a giant and—quite rapidly growing—blue crystal of ice. The growth and violence of the reaction between the two pushed outward in a visible effect as the other parasites were pushed outward as though riding a wave of air, and the clearing floor became like that of an ice rink. The outward wash even going so far as to frost the forest leaves and leave the observing Mews with a sudden and clinging chill.

And then... it stopped.

The result was a giant and completely unmoving slab of ice... even the other parasitic aliens were elsewhere. All in all, it was rather uneventful.

That... and things were just too quiet.

Such silence made Mew Ichigo wonder if there was something more to be expected or if this was just the way it was. Well, as far as investigation was concerned, she supposed that going out there was a necessary part in the whole process.

With that thought in mind, she released the branch she had unconsciously grabbed in anticipation and edged toward the edge of the ice, which seemed normal enough, but one could never be too careful.

She threw a stick on it, and watched it slide out onto the ice.

Nothing.

It seemed normal enough.

She cautiously put her foot on the outskirt and pressed her weight on gradually. So far, nothing out of the ordina—_ah!_

"Whoop!"

Mew Ichigo's world went out from under her as it followed her foot, and the result was her spinning on her back across the surface of the ice like that of a top.

When she finally came to a stop, she was staring up into the rather unconcerned and unemotional face of Mew Mint.

"Goofing around again?" she said with a sigh. Mew Ichigo replied with a faint 'Nya' before Mew Mint continued. "And you're supposed to be our leader... I just can accept it still..."

Mew Ichigo's tail hairs bristled. "And what about you..? You followed me didn't you?" It was then she took note of their respective positions before asking "why are you out here okay?"

"Well, no one ever told me I actually had to walk out here." She offered a helping hand to her fallen friend and helped her to her feet. "And no one told me I had to actually step on the ice."

"Ah yeah... a bird can fly."

"That aside..." Mew Mint pointed to the side. "The others are doing a fine job managing."

Mew Ichigo looked at the others as they came over, Mew Lettuce skating, Mew Zakuro prancing, and Mew Pudding spinning on all fours... but with control. She inquired briefly and they answered respectively.

"I like ice skating."

"Wolves are used to snow and ice. It's genetic."

"This Purin's secret art of—"

A sharp crack from the ice block ahead interrupted and made all shift their focus to it alone. As the nearing Purin quickly scrambled away.

"This is—??"

More cracks appeared as an unnatural vibration through the ice made both Mew Ichigo and Mew Zakuro's hair stand on end.

"It isn't..." Mew Ichigo declared as she looked at the bulging in the ice with a sense of dread. "Tch," she threw her hands forward. "Strawberry Bell!"

"Ichigo!?" one of the Mews questioned, but went ignored.

"RIBBON STRAWBERRY CHECK!!"

There was a dull sound through the chilled air as though something had imploded in on itself, just before the ice surrounding slab exploded outward... just as the full force of Ichigo's attack hit at the same time. The scatter Mews behind her having a front row seat as the resulting wave of powered ice washed over them, leaving them in a completely white environment of zero visibility.

In the surrounding dense woods there were sounds of great crashing. Possibly a mounting ambush?

"Masha! Masha!" Mew Ichigo cried for a response. _Is he still down?_ She really needed his help for recon now that she couldn't see anything. No matter. "Mew Mint!"

"What?"

"We can't do anything until we know what's what...! Give us a bird's eye-view?"

"Is that all?" her conceited voice floated over the air. "I guess if that's all..."

Without further chitchat, she flew into the sky, taking quick note that the white-out was only limited to their immediate position, and in the center. While everywhere else...

"This is..." her voice faltered.

"What is it!?"

"I can't..." It was true that she didn't know exactly, but that wasn't what held her tongue, so much as the amount of destruction that had happened in the places other than where Mew Ichigo had saved. And that the loud crashes of before wasn't that of a moving enemy, but sections of the broken forest crashing down.

"Wait!" There was movement, something large. "Something's there! It's... Chimera Anima!"

"Where!?"

"Still center! Possibly still forming? I can't see it well!"

"Che..." Mew Ichigo uttered as she raised her weapon again. Through parts of the fog she could make out to shape of the others. "Mew Lettuce, Mew Pudding... get ready!"

"Right!"

"Ok Ichigo-san!"

"Mew Mint! Pin it!"

"Heh... like you needed to say anything." Mew Mint whispered to herself as she readied her bow. "RIBBON MINT...

"...ECHO!!"

Following the mark of the arrow's destination, two other cries sounded through the mist.

"Ribbon Lettuce Rush!"

"RIBBON PUDDING RING... INFERNO!!"

"RIBBON STRAWBERRY CHECK!"

All at once, there was another great crashing sound, and then silence.

Perhaps that did it?

"ICHIGO!! Watch out!"

_Huh?_

From just beyond the fog she could see something insanely huge and mad fast come her way. There wasn't time to dodge!

"MEW ZAKURO SPEAR!"

Mew Ichigo closed her eyes as the thing and Mew Zakuro's attack collided together in an echoing blow, before opening them again to something she had wished not to see.

With the collision, the air had been pushed aside and that which was invisible before, was as clear as day.

Standing on six legs, massive as any of the creatures before, was something Ichigo had wished never to see again. That of a Chimera Anima.

But... something about this one... was different?

Her eyes opened wide. The ice. It was ice—rather it was covered in ice. Encased in it?

Or was it something else entirely?

"_They're incomplete organisms."_

The parasitic aliens were a different type... the effects of their conversion was... different as well?

Then this wasn't so much an insect transformed into a monster... but a monster's will forced onto an insect.

They were... _fighting ice!_

"Mew Zakuro!" Ice would break! "Concentrate center mass!"

"Got it! Ribborn... Zakuro Spear!"

As she released, the tip of her ribbon and the energy it carried was aimed perfectly, traveled perfect, and was about to deliver... when... it was caught?

"Oops." Said the owner of the hand that had seized the attack without harm. "That's dangerous. But..." he held the ribbon loosely in his hand as he pondered it. "No matter how you look at it, this is a whip, no?"

"You..." Mew Ichigo started, taken completely aback by the random and spontaneous appearance of the dark haired man. "Who are you?"

"Heh..." the man smiled as he hid his eyes. He let the ribbon in his hand fall lazily to the ground, completely devoid of the energy it had been set to deliver. "Me? I'm just someone. Perhaps a simple passerby?"

He turned to the raging Chimera Anima behind him and touched it with the tip of his finger. "Break."

At once, with no more than a feather's pressure, the entire creature was shattered into the smallest ice fragments before they could even blink.

"Then again..." he said with a smile. "Perhaps I am a somebody you would do well to remember... Ichigo-chan."

"Eh?" Mew Ichigo uttered. There were other noises of surprise from her teammates as well.

"Though..." he chuckled slightly as though remembering something funny. "I sincerely doubt... that you'd ever forget my name.

"Oh yes..." he looked to his empty hand. "I believe that this..." there was a flicker in the air as though it were being distorted, "...kind of thing..." there was a second's delay, and then a body emerged, "...is yours."

With little effort, he flung it at her feet, and watched as her eyes widened in absolute horror.

_Aoyama-kun!_

"You—he—!"

"I wouldn't fret so much. He is alive after all... though probably in need of a doctor."

"You—!!"

"Tata." He said with a smirk before vanishing into the still night air. "Oh yes..." his disembodied voice broadcasted through the emptiness. "My manners... how impolite.

"My name is Midnight. And I commend you on stumbling into my testing arena. Unfortunately for you, this concludes my research, and the real fun will begin soon enough.

"Wait for it."

Mew Ichigo cursed low as she stooped down to pick up her only true concern. That he came this far only to...

She paused in her thoughts as she noticed the last remaining piece of ice on the already thawed battlefield. A piece of ice with a beetle in it. A dead beetle.

She clenched her teeth together.

She would remember. She definitely would.

_Midnight..._

* * *

Author Comment (9/27/07): Long time overdue... this chapter. It should be easier to get this rolling now. 


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